I have come to the realisation that in my opinion the local rag “The Lowvelder” is the fiefdom of the editor. It is lightly whispered around Nelspruit that you should never upset Irma Green, “She wields the newspaper like a pick axe handle against those that offend her”. I made the mistake of criticizing the Australian authored and hosted “local” forum called Lowveld Womf.
It seems that my criticism of the Caxton’s group has made me persona non grata. I wish to unreservedly apologise to Irma, I am sorry that I believe that as South Africans we should support local business, I am sorry that I cannot say that womf is an amazing forum, I am sorry that you are unable to take critique.
Mostly I am sorry that your paper makes Nelspruit look like a war zone most weeks, I am sorry that the level of journalism at the Lowvelder is worse than that of the YOU magazine. I am sorry that you feel it neccesary to exclude local business that are willing to write articles on issues that affect the people of the community you rule.
Thank you for you prompt and honest response
Oh and Irma, One of my clients has over 300 registered users, not bad for a local hardware site that was started months after your Australian Forum. PS We have not been advertising in the paper every week for months to achieve that either.
Irma I have also created an alternative social site for lowvelders at http://lowveldnet.co.za/community. It is still under construction, yet is feature rich compared to womf. I am aiming for 1000 users in 3 months.
Thank you for the submission. In light of the fact that Guy slammed Lowveld Media, Lowveld WOMF and Caxton on his blog, we will not be able to engage in deals in the near future. I refer you to: Is WOMF the most backward social site ever? Author: GuyMcLaren | Category: I say Caxtons have entered into an agreement with an Australian Company to supply them with a forum. I fail to see why South African businesses are not good enough. As I understand it WOMF supplies Caxtons with many localised domains like lowveld.womf.com. They then in turn advertise this as a blog site when, the only similarity between WOMF and a blog is that the content is user generated. This site is even more backward than the Mweb blogs where I occassionaly still leave a rant. You cannot add pictures, you cannot link, you can type thats it. The site is worse than a web 1.0 style forum. In most forums you can add images at the very least. Anybody from the lowveld that wants a real blog, talk to me. I will show you how Finally - WOMF now has 950 registered users and 8680 blogs. Not bad for a "backward social site". Kind regards Your partner in media. Irma Green Group Editor Lowveld Media 12 Stinkhout Cres Nelspruit irma@lowvelder.co.za
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Tags: Irma Green, Lowveld WOMF, Lowvelder
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:55 am
Dear Guy
I find it EXTREMELY funny and hypocritical that you slam us (yes, I am a journalist at the Lowvelder), and then hope to use us to advertise your photography.
I refer to when you approached me at scene a few weeks ago, where a local lodge almost burnt down, and then said I must tell my editor she can use your photos if she likes. It is apparently beside the point that there were two Lowvelder journalists on the scene, and you apparently forgot that not too long before that incident you compared the Lowvelder to the You magazine.
Yet it is still good enough to use when you want publicity???
You mentioned that our “local rag” makes Nelspruit seem like a war zone; sorry Guy, the reality is the reality, and nobody can change news or what is happening! Wake up and look around you and you will see the things you read in “our local rag” (why do buy it then?) are actually happening out there!
What a two-face.